Introduction

The Cisco Aironet Access Point is a wireless LAN transceiver that acts as the connection point between wireless and wired networks or as the center point of a standalone wireless network. In large installations, the roaming functionality provided by multiple access points enables wireless users to move freely throughout the facility while maintaining uninterrupted access to the network.

Finding the Cisco IOS Software Release

To find the version of Cisco IOS software that is running on your access point, use a Telnet session to log into the access point, and enter the show version EXEC command. This example shows command output from an access point that is running Cisco IOS Release 15.2(4)JB4:

ap1260AG> show version

Cisco IOS Software, C1260 Software (AP3G1-K9W7-M), Version 15.2(4)JB4

Copyright (c) 1986-2010 by Cisco Systems, Inc.

On access points running Cisco IOS software, you can also find the software release on the System Software Version page in the access point’s web-browser interface. If your access point does not run Cisco IOS software, the software release appears at the top left of most pages in the web-browser interface.

The new Cisco IOS software is supported only in these versions of 1550 series :

Table 1 Supported Versions

Version

First VID with 128 MB

1552E

VID 04

1552EU

VID 01 (all)

1552I

VID 03

1552H

VID 04

1552S

VID 01 (all)

NoteAP 1550 does not support 64 MB Cisco IOS Release starting from 15.2(4)JA1 in autonomous mode.

Converting a Lightweight Access Point Back to Autonomous Mode

You can convert an access point from lightweight mode back to autonomous mode by loading a Cisco IOS Release that supports autonomous mode. If the access point is associated with a controller, you can use the controller to load the Cisco IOS release. If the access point is not associated with a controller, you can load the Cisco IOS release using TFTP.

The image files and their supported access points are listed in Table 2.

Table 2 Image File Names

Image File

Supported Access Point

Ap3g2

2600I/2600E, 3600I/3600E, 3700I/3700E

Ap3g1

3500I/3500E, 1260I/1260E

Ap1g1

702

Ap1g3

1530I/1530E

Ap1g2

1600I/1600E

1520

1552E, 1552EU, 1552S, 1552I, 1552H

1140

1040 and c1140

Disabling Radios to Prevent Unexpected Reboots When Upgrading the System Software

If your access point runs Cisco IOS Release 12.2(11)JA, 12.2(11)JA1, or 12.2(11)JA2, your access point might unexpectedly reboot after you upgrade to a later Cisco IOS release. However, after the access point reboots, the upgrade is complete and the access point operates normally. It is recommended to disable the radio interfaces before upgrading the software to prevent the access point from rebooting unexpectedly.

To disable the radio interfaces using the access point’s web-browser interface, which you can access through the access point's Ethernet port, follow these steps:

Step 1 Browse to the Network Interfaces: Radio Settings page. Figure 1 shows the top portion of the Network Interfaces: Radio Settings page.

Figure 1 Network Interfaces: Radio Settings Page

Step 2 Choose Disable to disable the radio.

Step 3 Click Apply at the bottom of the page.

Step 4 If your access point has two radios, repeat these steps for the second radio.

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to disable the access point radios using the access point CLI:

Command

Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

interface dot11radio {0 | 1}

Enters interface configuration mode for the radio interface. The 2.4-GHz radio is radio 0, and the 5-GHz radio is radio 1.

Step 3

shutdown

Disables the radio port.

Step 4

end

Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Step 5

copy running-config startup-config

(Optional) Saves your entries in the configuration file.

If your access point has two radios, repeat these steps for the second radio. Use the no form of the shutdown command to enable the radio.

Supported Browsers

These browsers are supported:

Internet Explorer 8.x and later

Firefox 3.x and later

New Features and Platforms in this Release

There are no new features in this release. For more information about the updates in this release, see the Caveats section.

Installation Notes

Access Points

This section contains installation notes for access points.

Installation in Environmental Air Space

Cisco Aironet 1040, 1140, 1250, 1260, and 2600 series access points provide adequate fire resistance and low smoke-producing characteristics suitable for operation in a building's environmental air space, such as above suspended ceilings, in accordance with Section 300-22(C) of the National Electrical Code (NEC) and Sections 2-128, 12-010(3) and 12-100 of the Canadian Electrical Code, Part 1, C22.1.

Caution The power injector does not provide fire resistance and low smoke-producing characteristics and is not intended for use in extremely high or low temperatures or in environmental air spaces such as above suspended ceilings.

Antenna Installation

For instructions on the proper installation and grounding of external antennas for 1550, 1260, 1600E, 2600, E3500E, and 3600E access points, refer to the National Fire Protection Association’s NFPA 70, National Electrical Code, Article 810, and the Canadian Standards Association’s Canadian Electrical Code, Section 54.

Warning Do not install the antenna near overhead power lines or other electric light or power circuits, or where it can come into contact with such circuits. When installing the antenna, take extreme care not to come into contact with such circuits, as they may cause serious injury or death.

Important Notes

This section describes important information about access points and bridges.

Use FTP or TFTP File Transfer to Upgrade to Cisco IOS Release 15.2(4)JB4

You cannot use HTTPS file transfer to upgrade to Cisco IOS Release 15.2(4)JB4 from previous releases. Because of the image size for this release, you must use FTP or TFTP file transfer for the upgrade. Refer to the upgrade instructions at this URL:

Cisco 1040/1140 series Access Points May Record "watchdog timer expired" as Last Reset Reason

This error message sometimes appears as the last reset reason when the access points are power cycled:

Watchdog timer expired

This symptom is observed only in the Cisco 1040/1140 series access point and does not have any impact on functionality. Ignore the “watchdog timer expired” reason after an access point has been power cycled. You can also overwrite the reset reason to “reload” by rebooting with command operation.

Regulatory Update for Japan

This release supports the U regulatory domain for the W52 frequency set (channels 36, 40, 44, and 48) in Japan for the Cisco Aironet 1230 series. This support was added for the Cisco Aironet 1130 series in Cisco IOS Software Release 12.4(3G)JA, which shipped previously. Cisco access points specified for this new domain ship with a U domain radio. Installed J domain access points are automatically upgraded to the U domain status with this release.

Point-to-Point and Point-to-Multipoint Bridging Support for 802.11n Platforms

The point-to-point and point-to-multipoint bridging is supported on the Cisco Aironet 1040, 1140, 1260, 1600, 2600, 3500 and 3600 series access points (802.11n platforms). The 5-GHz bands support 20 and 40-MHz channel widths, and the 2.4-GHz bands support only a 20-MHz channel width.

The following items are supported for AP1040, AP1140, AP1260, AP1600, AP2600, AP3500, and AP3600 bridging:

MIMO, short-range bridging (on campus or inter-building bridge deployments), with dipole and MIMO antennas (line of sight and short range) under 1 km.

Low Throughput Seen on Access Points with 16 BSSIDs Configured

802.11n HT Rates Apply Only to No Encryption or WPA2/AES Encryption

As per the 802.11n amendment, the 802.11n HT rates apply only to no encryption or WPA2/AES encryption. They do not apply to WEP or WPA encryption. If WEP or TKIP encryption is used, the access point and any 802.11n clients will not transmit at HT rates. Legacy rates (802.11a/b/g) will be used for any clients using WEP or TKIP encryption.

Layer 3 Not Supported with NAC for MBSSID

Layer 3 is not supported with NAC for MBSSID in this release.

Change to Default IP Address Behavior

Cisco IOS Release 12.3(2)JA and later releases change the default behavior of access points that request an IP address from a DHCP server

When you connect a 1040, 1130, 1140, 1250, or 1260 series access point or a 1300 series outdoor access point/bridge with a default configuration to a LAN, the access point requests an IP address from a DHCP server and, if it does not receive an address, continues to send requests indefinitely.

Changes to the Default Configuration—Radios Disabled and No Default SSID

The radio or radios are disabled by default, and there is no default SSID. You must create an SSID and enable the radio or radios before the access point allows wireless associations from other devices. These changes to the default configuration improve the security of newly installed access points.

Clients Using WPA/WPA2 and Power Save May Fail to Authenticate

Certain clients using WPA/WPA2 key management and power save can take many attempts to authenticate or, in some cases, fail to authenticate. Any SSID that is defined to use authentication key-management WPA, together with clients using power save mode and authenticating using WPA/WPA2, can experience this problem.

A hidden configure level command, dot11 wpa handshake timeout, can be used to increase the timeout between sending the WPA key packets from the default value (100 ms) to a value between 101 and 2000 ms. The command stores its value in the configuration across device reloads.

Default Username and Password Are Cisco

When you open the access point interface, you must enter a username and a password. The default username for administrator login is Cisco, and the default password is Cisco. Both the username and password are case sensitive.

Some Client Devices Cannot Associate When QoS Is Configured

Some wireless client devices, including Dell Axim handhelds and Hewlett-Packard iPaq HX4700 handhelds, cannot associate to an access point when the access point is configured for QoS. To allow these clients to associate, disable QoS on the access point. You can use the QoS Policies page on the access point GUI to disable QoS or enter this command on the CLI:

ap(config-if)# no dot11 qos mode

Some Devices Disassociate When Multiple BSSIDs Are Added or Deleted

Devices on your wireless LAN that are configured to associate to a specific access point based on the access point MAC address (such as client devices, repeaters, hot standby units, or workgroup bridges) might lose their association when you add or delete multiple BSSIDs. When you add or delete multiple BSSIDs, check the association status of devices that are configured to associate to a specific access point. If necessary, reconfigure the disassociated device to use the BSSID new MAC address.

Enabling MBSSIDs Without VLANs Disables Radio Interface

If you use the mbssid configuration interface command to enable multiple BSSIDs on a specific radio interface but VLANs are not configured on the access point, the access point disables the radio interface. To re-enable the radio, you must shut down the radio, disable multiple BSSIDs, and re-enable the radio.

This example shows how to re-enable the radio:

AP1260AG(config)# interface d1

AP1260AG(config-if)# shut

AP1260AG(config-if)# no mbssid

AP1260AG(config-if)# no shut

After you re-enable the radio, you can enable VLANs on the access point and enable multiple BSSIDs.

Cannot Set Channel on DFS-Enabled Radios in Some Regulatory Domains

Access points with 5-GHz radios configured at the factory for use in Europe, Singapore, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Israel now comply with regulations that require radio devices to use Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) to detect radar signals and to avoid interfering with them. You cannot manually set the channel on DFS-enabled radios that are configured for these regulatory domains.

TACACS+ and DHCP IP Address Sometimes Locks Out Administrators

When you configure an access point for TACACS+ administration and you request for an IP address from the DHCP server, you might be locked out of the access point after it reboots if you do not have a local username and password configured on the access point. This issue does not affect access points that are configured with a static IP address. If you have been locked out, you must regain access by resetting the unit to default settings.

Access Points Do Not Support Loopback Interface

Throughput Option for 802.11g Radio Blocks Association by 802.11b Clients

When you configure the 802.11g access point radio for best throughput, the access point sets all data rates to basic (required). This setting blocks association from 802.11b client devices. The best throughput option appears on the web-browser interface Express Setup and Radio Settings pages and in the speed CLI configuration interface command.

Use Auto for Ethernet Duplex and Speed Settings

We recommend that you use auto, the default setting, for both the speed and duplex settings on the access point Ethernet port. When your access point receives inline power from a switch, any change in the speed or duplex settings that resets the Ethernet link reboots the access point. If the switch port to which the access point is connected is not set to auto, you can change the access point port to half or full to correct a duplex mismatch, and the Ethernet link is not reset. However, if you change from half or full back to auto, the link is reset, and, if your access point receives inline power from a switch, the access point reboots.

Note The speed and duplex settings on the access point Ethernet port must match the Ethernet settings on the port to which the access point is connected. If you change the settings on the port to which the access point is connected, change the settings on the access point Ethernet port to match.

Using the force-reload Option with archive download-sw Command

When you upgrade an access point or bridge system software by entering the archive download-sw command on the CLI, you must use the force-reload option. If the access point or bridge does not reload the flash memory after the upgrade, the pages in the web-browser interface might not reflect the upgrade. This example shows how to upgrade the system software by using the archive download-sw command:

Radio MAC Address Appears in Access Point Event Log

When a client device roams from an access point (such as access point alpha) to another access point (access point bravo), a message appears in the event log on access point alpha stating that the client roamed to access point bravo. The MAC address that appears in the event message is the MAC address for the radio in access point bravo. The MAC address for the access point Ethernet port is on the label on the back of the access point.

Mask Field on IP Filters Page Behaves the Same As in CLI

In Cisco IOS Release 12.2(8)JA and later releases, the mask that you enter in the Mask field on the IP Filters page in the access point GUI behaves the same way as a mask that you enter in the CLI. If you enter 255.255.255.255 as the mask, the access point accepts any IP address. If you enter 0.0.0.0, the access point looks for an exact match with the IP address that you entered in the IP Address field.

Repeater Access Points Cannot Be Configured as WDS Access Points

Repeater access points can participate in WDS, but they cannot provide WDS. You cannot configure a repeater access point as a main WDS access point, and if a root access point becomes a repeater in fallback mode, it cannot provide WDS.

When Cipher Is TKIP Only, Key Management Must Be Enabled

When you configure TKIP-only cipher encryption (not TKIP + WEP 128 or TKIP + WEP 40) on any radio interface or VLAN, every SSID on that radio or VLAN must be set to use WPA or CCKM key management. If you configure TKIP on a radio or VLAN but you do not configure key management on the SSIDs, client authentication fails on the SSIDs.

Cisco CKM Supports SpectraLink Phones

Cisco CKM (CCKM) key management is designed to support voice clients that require minimal roaming times. Voice clients must support Cisco Compatible Extensions to benefit from this feature, for the voice client security mode you selected, please refer to the following URL for the list of CCX versions and supported clients: http://www.cisco.com/web/partners/pr46/pr147/partners_pgm_concept_home.html

Non-Cisco Aironet Clients Sometimes Fail 802.1X Authentication

Some non-Cisco Aironet client adapters do not perform 802.1X authentication to the access point unless you configure Open authentication with EAP. To allow both Cisco Aironet clients using LEAP and non-Cisco Aironet clients using LEAP to associate using the same SSID, you might need to configure the SSID for both Network EAP authentication and Open authentication with EAP.

Pings and Link Tests Sometimes Fail to Clients with Both Wired and Wireless Network Connections

When you ping or run a link test from an access point to a client device installed in a PC running Microsoft Windows, the ping or link test sometimes fails when the client has both wired and wireless connections to the LAN. Microsoft does not recommend this configuration. For more information, refer to Microsoft Knowledge Base article 157025 at this URL:

The beacons on the Cisco Aironet 1250 and 1140 access points can only have output at intervals that are multiples of 17 milliseconds. When these access points are configured for a 100-millisecond beacon interval, they transmit beacons every 102 milliseconds. Similarly, when the beacon interval is configured for 20 milliseconds, these access points transmit beacons every 17 milliseconds.

Potential RFC 3748 Violation

When the following command is configured under the SSID settings (for LEAP authentication):

authentication client username <WORD> password [0 | 7] <LINE>

if the first access-challenge returned by the Radius server after the access-request from the access point is not for the LEAP method but for EAP-MD5, the access point violates RFC 3748.

Instead of sending an EAP NAK requesting LEAP authentication, the access point sends the user's credentials with EAP-MD5 and drops the derived keys, since it cannot read the EAP-MD5 from the access-accept.

This violates RFC 3748.

The workaround for this is to use the commands dot1x credentials and dot1x eap profile for LEAP authentication.

Autonomous AP Will Treat The Sub-interface Tied To Bridge-group1 As The Native Vlan

When using a configuration on an autonomous AP where there is no native VLAN defined, each interface is being dot1q tagged, communication will fail after upgrading to release 15.2(4)JB4 or later. It appears that the configuration is still correct after the upgrade, but the AP sends the untagged frames for bridge-group 1, even though the encapsulation is not defined as native. The autonomous AP will treat the sub-interface tied to bridge-group 1 as the native VLAN, even if it is not defined with the native keyword: "encapsulation dot1 <vlan> native". The VLAN associated with bridge-group 1 must be set to native on the connecting switchport configuration

The workaround for this is to configure VLAN 100 as the native VLAN on the connected switchport trunk, even though the encapsulation is not specified as native on the AP.

DHCP Failure When Access Point Renewal Time Is Greater Than Rebind Time

An access point is unable to obtain IP through the same IOS DHCP server when the access point is running on 15.2x. The problem occurs because the Renewal (T1) time dhcp option 58 is larger than Rebinding (T2) time dhcp option 59.

Configuring the radius server using the old cli

This cli command was used in the previous releases to configure radius servers:

Caveats

Cisco Bug Search Tool

The Bug Search Tool (BST), which is the online successor to Bug Toolkit, is designed to improve the effectiveness in network risk management and device troubleshooting. The BST allows partners and customers to search for software bugs based on product, release, and keyword, and aggregates key data such as bug details, product, and version. The tool has a provision to filter bugs based on credentials to provide external and internal bug views for the search input.

When 1532I is powered in C, E, H, M and S domains, with 802.3at PoE+ or AIR-PWRINJ4 power injector, one of the 2.4GHz TX is disabled.

CSCum49200

Wireless clients utilizing Broadcom chipsets may have trouble associating to a Cisco Aironet 2600 or 3600 series access points.

CSCun02785

Add new 5G CTL tables for D-domain for both Cisco Aironet 1532i and 1532e access points.

If You Need More Information

If you need information about a specific caveat that does not appear in these release notes, you can use the Cisco Bug Toolkit to find select caveats of any severity. Click this URL to browse to the Bug Toolkit:

Obtaining Documentation, Obtaining Support, and Security Guidelines

For information on obtaining documentation, obtaining support, providing documentation feedback, security guidelines, and also recommended aliases and general Cisco documents, see the monthly What’s New in Cisco Product Documentation , which also lists all new and revised Cisco technical documentation, at:

Any Internet Protocol (IP) addresses used in this document are not intended to be actual addresses. Any examples, command display output, and figures included in the document are shown for illustrative purposes only. Any use of actual IP addresses in illustrative content is unintentional and coincidental.